Howlers

I hadn't even heard of "Howlers" (aka "High Moon") prior to coming across it by random luck here in 2019. I picked it up and saw it being a werewolf movie, so naturally I had to watch it.

Well, the movie was sort of interesting, but at the same time it was frightfully cheesy and campy. I mean, a band of werewolves were killed sometime in the 1800s and then come back in 2018 along with the gunslinger whom killed them. Yeah, that was essentially the core of the movie, and it was a rather thin soup.

The movie was watchable for sure, but it wasn't an overly enjoyable movie. Not even by a long shot. I managed to endure it to the end, though I was starting to lose interest in the movie along the halfway point.

The werewolves in this movie were laughable to look at. It was nothing more than your generic biker gang members with added facial hair, contact lenses, prosthetic teeth and latex added to the faces. They didn't even remotely look anything like a werewolf or a lycanthrope of any kind.

The acting in "Howlers" was actually okay, taking into consideration the nature of the movie and the limitations of the storyline and script inflicted upon the actors and actresses.

Having sat through the entire movie, I can honestly say that this is not a movie that I will ever be returning to watch a second time.

The summary sounds good, suggesting a good time with a silly but fun movie.

Yeah, well, um...

The "story" is pretty stupid and includes a couple of total what the heck-moments, without any thrills or comedy, except for the occasional unintentional moronic dialogues or bonkers plot additions. In terms of dramaturgy it can only be called a mess.

Blood is there, not really gore though, the action scenes feel rather cheap, and the werewolfs look a bit weird. Not sure what they spend the estimated $6,400,000 on.

The acting is OK by some of the cast, not so much by others, most likely due to the script I imagine. Some things can't be pulled off with what's been given.

Somehow, although I stand by the points I made, there was something that elevates Howlers in its total slightly above its sums, maybe because of the absurd plot.

Yet, probably only worth a watch for die hard fans of werewolf-"horror" or "gunslinger" stuff.

Now i like Ray Harryhausen films using old-hat stop motion animation so whilst films don't need ultra brilliant digital effects and retro has its place, there is a fine line between retro and pants. This movie has effects that are pants, so much so that the film is ruined. Werewolf masks looking like budget store Halloween dress up have no place in 2018 and frankly made what was otherwise an OK film a painful experience to watch. OK action scenes, OK but contrived plot, OK cast. Its all serviceable but those wolf effects... Man what on earth was the director thinking allowing that nonsense on screen. Sorry to all those involved with the movie but it was embarrassing to look at those cheap masks and impossible to enjoy the film.

Okay, I'll start by saying that this is not a horror film. If you're looking to be scared then this tale is not for you.

What this movie is more a dark western fantasy, set in present times, based around supernatural creatures; lycanthropes - werewolves. And, it's not that bad.

The story is way out there, quite a few miles past the twilight zone... It's a story of one man's revenge against the men-come-creatures who killed his beloved. The trouble is evil never dies and once the creatures draw breath into their lungs so does our good cowboy hero. As we progress through the story we learn more about the good-guy in black. Such as he was trained in the martial arts by a long-dead Asian Warlord who had pledged to defeat these demons. How much cooler could you get than when the werewolves dispatch a biker gang and take their leathers and rides. What more could you ask from a story - an undead ghost trained, martial arts cowboy killing lycanthrope bikers from hell.

If the budget had been bigger then this could have been a truly awesome B-movie. Luckily, writer and director, Josh Ridgeway infuses his film with as much imagination as he did within his story. There are some nice camera angles and pans that add to the strength of the film. He's even adept at using lighting to create an atmosphere. I believe that if he wanted his audience afraid he could have put the scare into them.

Though Ridgeway shoots his action scenes with skill and minimises the shaky-camera effect to good effect the fights are too slow. On the whole, they are well choreographed, they just need to be a tad faster to make them exciting.

The acting is also above par. Tom Zembrod as the Alpha Werewolf Willie Price is perfect. He has such a good repartee, especially when he's chanting and bating Colt, our kung-fu cowboy, that it keeps you smiling and watching. Matthew Tompkins as the Sheriff is gruff, strong, and ideally cast. I've liked Sean Patrick Flanery since I first watched him in Powder. However, in this film, he's not at his best. He seems to be lacking an "oomph" that his character requires. He gets the sleaziness across flawlessly but it feels like something is missing. The rest of the cast range from good to decent.

The special effects aren't brilliant but they do work. The worst, by far, is the rubber mask werewolf. The Willie Price werewolf is layered up and looks quite good - it's passable. But this only adds to the nastiness of ol' rubber-face. Good thing he's only around a few times. You can forgive and forget.

I would gladly recommend this Dark Western Fantasy to all. It's entertaining, humourous, and has its fair share of action. It's a bonus that the acting and the story are greater than the usual fodder of this type. A nice waste of an hour and a half. I'll even watch this flick again... Enjoy.

Feel free to check out my Obsidian Dreams list-come-chart to see where this places in my fantasy films.

Garbage start to finish. Since time travel does not exist at this point so what people out of the past would act like when introduced to them but the way the werewolf's acted when seeing the magic that is a motorcycle is definitely not how people would act. I realize after the stunning success of sharknado we have been drowning in craptacular abominations and mashups that come from the fever dreams of the ghost of Ed Wood. One decent movie has come from this nonsense Abraham Lincoln versus Zombies. Two things from this movie are interesting, one if they make a movie about Brett Favre the sheriff looks a lot like him so thats something and strangely another former NFL QB had found another career as Ken Stabler wasn't bad as the coroner which is a neat trick as he died several years ago. The only reason to watch this would be for you to see if I was right. The closest comparison to what you see in this movie is a short lived 15 min cartoon calls Axe Cop I watched Axe Cop and absolutely hated it and while talking to somebody about it is was told the entire story of Axe Cop and I immediately went back to watch it and it was awesome. The story behind that show is a mid 20s cartoonist and his (I think) 6 year old nephew made the cartoon and this little guy came up with the characters, the story and all the dialogue while his uncle did the cartoon itself if you can check it out. Why do I bring that up, well everything that the little guy came up with is far more believable than this garbage and that includes monsters on the moon and a cop truck capable of interstellar travel while also being a time machine. That is how stupid this is.